Okay, maybe not exclusively, but I definitely expect to see it more then once this season. Definitely a ton of 4-guard rotations.

Plus, a Jeff Capel puff piece.

In recent radio interviews, Capel has stressed he won’t just look to add bodies. Which means, despite a glaring need for more in the frontcourt, he’s not going to reach for a player if he can’t help this year. After missing out on traditional transfer Sacha Killeya-Jones (he went with NC State), Pitt didn’t waste much time.

Enter Sidy N’Dir.  A graduate transfer from New Mexico State.

The former three start recruit and Texas A&M commit out of high school played three seasons at New Mexico State after redshirting, and the 6’2” senior brings plenty of experience and a competitive edge to the back court and wing. He is capable of playing at either the two or three due to his athleticism, and despite not having great size, his strength and vertical ability enable him to play all the way out to the wing. He projects as Pitt’s best perimeter defender immediately.

And Pitt definitely can use some help out on the defense.

He first caught the attention of the current Pitt coaches when Jason Capel, the brother of the Panthers’ head coach and a member of the coaching staff, saw him play when he was broadcasting a New Mexico State game.

“The coaches are great people,” N’Dir said. “I like them a lot. I think that they are going to have a real good effect on the program, and that the culture is definitely going to change. I can see myself being a part of that in this program, so that is why I committed on the visit.”

After he decided to leave New Mexico State as a graduate transfer, N’Dir considered only one option. His visit to Pitt was his only visit.

NMSU, despite being in the remainder of the WAC, won their conference, conference tournament and played in the NCAA Tournament (they lost to Clemson in the 1st round as a #12 seed).

As a graduate transfer, he is a low risk proposition. But he brings more experience and toughness to the backcourt. N’Dir had appeared to be a rising star for the Aggies as a sophomore, but a foot injury killed his season only 9 games in — hey, we have our replacement for Ryan Luther — and he spent a good portion of last year trying to get back into form.

The Athletic’s Dana O’Neill gives Coach Capel a nice puff piece with a whole rebuilding arc.

Toxic. That’s the word Capel uses to describe the culture and the atmosphere around Pitt basketball when he took over in March, the relationships, trust and excitement deteriorated so badly that it hardly resembled a carcass of its former self. Pitt basketball once epitomized success and energy, the Panthers winning two regular-season Big East titles, one conference tourney crown and 11 NCAA Tournament bids in 13 years. The Petersen Events Center (courtesy of the Oakland Zoo student section) rocked with one of the most intimidating home-court advantages in the country, and the Panthers, built on the snarl of New York recruits, earned a reputation as blue-collar junkyard dogs, a rep suiting a city that, despite a recent downtown renaissance, still tracks as a shot-and-a-beer kind of place.

Fair description for Pitt basketball by the end of this past season. And maybe the season before.

Into the quagmire walked Capel — willingly, we might add. Intrigued by what Pitt was and what he believed it could become, and eager to get back into the head-coaching ranks, Capel was lured by the commitment and immediate trust he felt from athletic director Heather Lyke, the comfort of being in the ACC and the firm belief that everything is in place to put the Panthers back together again. Capel knew the program needed a reboot, but he could relate to that.

And here comes the tie-in/parallels.

The son of a coaching legend and a four-year starter at Duke, Capel parlayed his privileged hoops pedigree into an equally charmed coaching career. He was just 27 when he landed his first head-coaching gig at VCU; only 31 when he shifted into a power conference job at Oklahoma. By the age of 34, he was riding the Blake Griffin wave and coaching in the Elite Eight. If he didn’t think the job was downright easy, he certainly didn’t appreciate its difficulties. He recalls now a meeting with VCU president Eugene Trani, who had some pointers for his young coach, advice on how to deal with ancillary duties he might encounter, such as dealing with donors and schmoozing alums. “I was almost offended,’’ Capel says. “I was like, I got this. I can get every recruit. I can be a part of everything. I can do it all myself.’’ He found out, of course, he was wrong.

The fall at Oklahoma came quickly, and you can see many of the lessons learned there already in action. He had an assistant receive a “show cause” penalty for recruiting activities, while Capel himself wasn’t implicated (NCAA hadn’t yet passed the rule that held the coaches much more responsible for their assistants actions). Players transferred out in light of sanctions.

Before his final season at Oklahoma, after the five players transferred, he rushed to add bodies. Any bodies. The decision backfired. “Just because you need guys, you can’t take them if they don’t have value,’’ he says.

That most likely will mean there’s no quick fix coming, but the fans, thoroughly disgusted and disenchanted just a few months ago, seem willing to be patient. Lyke says ticket sales are improving, and the two suites that were available sold on the day Capel’s hiring was announced. Outside of the tangible evidence, there is a sense of optimism around town.

The actions of his assistant at Oklahoma can also help understand his hiring of assistants. He went with assistants he knew and could trust. That isn’t to say they can’t recruit, but he definitely wasn’t going to hire assistants based on relationships with players or simply for recruiting.

Then there was what the kids at Pitt were going through. Between the time from Stallings firing and Capel’s arrival and subsequent re-recruitment of them.

Capel chalked it up to the noise that crowds a player’s thinking in today’s world as well as the 18-day window between Stallings’s dismissal and his hiring. “It felt like forever,’’ says freshman forward Terrell Brown. “We didn’t know what to do with ourselves. I actually missed practice. I never thought I’d say that, and there were rumors every day.’’

Once Stallings was let go, nine players immediately asked for their release, most such as freshman guard Khameron Davis protecting themselves in case they wanted to move on. Without a home to welcome them to — Capel is living in a Residence Inn — the new coach did what he could to introduce himself to his players. On the night of the national championship game, he invited everyone to his office, where a small balcony of seats overlooks the arena court. He had the Jumbotron lowered so the team could watch the game together over pizza. “That was pretty cool,’’ Davis says. “We’d never done anything like that before.’’ Capel reiterated the same message to his returning players — “You didn’t choose me, but I chose you’’ — while also telling them if they didn’t want to stay, he wouldn’t get in their way.

Yes, it’s behind a paywall, but it’s a good piece to read.